Grab a beverage, a bite to eat and join our conversation on brand perception – the good, the bad and everything in between! Mary Agnes Welch, principal at Probe Research Inc. and former Winnipeg Free Press journalist, will guide an engaging conversation on what happens when your brand takes a turn for the good or the bad in the court of public perception. Bring your best examples and we’ll let the discussion begin.

About our Facilitator

Mary Agnes Welch joined Probe Research in 2016 and provides qualitative and quantitative research and strategic advice to a range of private, public and not-for-profit clients. Before that, she spent 14 years as an award-winning reporter at the Winnipeg Free Press, covering city hall, the Manitoba legislature and finally the public policy beat. She specialized in using data, documents and advanced research methods to tackle some of Manitoba’s most complex policy issues, including child welfare, housing and energy.

Mary Agnes earned an honours undergraduate history degree from the University of Alberta and a master’s degree from Columbia University’s journalism school. In 2012, she was one of four Canadian journalists chosen for a year-long Southam journalism fellowship at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, where she studied Indigenous issues, urban planning and political science. Mary Agnes is the former national president of the Canadian Association of Journalists. She was active in her union, Unifor, locally and nationally for many years while at the Free Press.

Please note that admission is free, but food and beverage costs are the responsibility of the attendees.

Join us for breakfast followed by an engaging panel discussion with True North Sports + Entertainment as we take a deep dive into how community relations and activations can build the strength of your brand. From White Out Street Parties to the development of True North Square, there is no shortage of excitement surrounding one of our city’s most recognizable brands.

We’ll hear from the team responsible for leading communications strategies, media relations, and community engagement for True North Sports + Entertainment about how they’ve become a brand rooted in our local community and what that means on a national scale.

Join us next week at our Brews & News networking event for a timely discussion with Steve West, former communications professional with the City of Winnipeg about the Open/Close decision of Portage and Main. Steve will help guide and moderate our discussion as we cover all things PR and communications regarding the Open/Close in the media leading up to the election and how the outcome affects our city from a public relations and visitor experience point of view, plus more!

About Steve West

After 20 years at Canadian Pacific where he rose from junior accounting clerk to rail traffic controller – with some time away as a stay-at-home dad – Steve worked four years in communications, post-9/11 policy, and 24/7 operations at Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization. In 2003, he became issues manager for the Winnipeg Police Service, eventually overseeing all communications functions, and was the first civilian senior manager elected as secretary-treasurer for the Manitoba Association of Chiefs of Police. Steve was promoted to manage corporate communications for the City of Winnipeg in 2010, and advanced in the City’s corporate support services structure, retiring in 2017 as interim director overseeing information technology, project management, Indigenous relations, human resources, labour relations, and 311. Steve was a CPRS Manitoba board member from 2013-2016, co-chairing the society’s mentorship program.

Mark your calendars and we hope to see you there!

P.S. Admission is free, but attendees will be responsible for their own food & beverage costs.

Please join us as we celebrate CPRS Manitoba’s 60th anniversary with a very special awards reception to honour Manitoba’s best public relations and communications professionals with MCOY Awards. This annual celebration is the province’s most prestigious public relations and communications award program. It honours practitioners who lead the way in innovation, resourcefulness, and creativity.

We are also thrilled to be recognizing Manitoba’s newest recipients of the APR designation at this event. Truly, it will be an evening you won’t want to miss, all taking place in the gorgeous new Pavilion event centre at Assiniboine Park. We look forward to celebrating with you there!

Monique LaCoste, bilingual announcer at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics’ team welcome ceremonies at Athletes’ Village, working alongside Sandra Oh and Athletes’ Village Mayors Rick Hanson and Tricia Smith, and French announcer for curling; and

Celebrating 30 years as a communicator in 2018, Monique LaCoste spent nearly two decades as a radio and television host and journalist. Since her departure from Radio-Canada in 2005, Monique has worked in communications and media relations roles for several non-profits, including 2017 Canada Summer Games, St. Boniface Hospital Foundation, and Université de Saint-Boniface. She is also a sought-after voice-over artist and master of ceremonies, with more than three decades experience hosting countless community events.

Kyle Jahns graduated from Creative Communications at Red River College in 2013, and he has since built his career as a media and communications professional internationally. Kyle is the communications coordinator for Winnipeg Humane Society, as well as a freelance writer for Curling Canada.

Drink to our guests of honour as they recount their experiences for us while we gather round the screen(s) to watch …

{Drawing a blank.}

… men’s semi-final curling live from Pyeongchang!

(What else did you expect?!)

Hope to see you there!

P.S. Admission is free, but attendees will be responsible for their own food & beverage costs.

The story is out there.

Fostering mutual understanding, trust, and support amongst its stakeholders is one of the greatest challenges of an organization today.

Jennifer Pawluk, communications officer, Balmoral Hall

Public relations professionals have a greater stake in reputation management than ever before. Your voice, in amplifying that of everyone around you, matters. We have a variety of tools at our disposal. Our resources are expanding all the time. Developing strategies in community relations is meaningful work.

Storytelling, in particular, is the most effective strategy Jennifer Pawluk has developed in her work as a communications specialist at Balmoral Hall School.

For more than a century, Balmoral Hall has been committed to empowering girls to pursue …their dreams. Rigorous teaching prepares students for post-secondary success. Emphasizing science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM), a curriculum spanning classical studies to 21st-century technology fosters academic excellence.

Jennifer believes that if you seek inspiration everywhere, then you will find it anywhere. This is why she leads by training, advising, and guiding stakeholders in their storytelling efforts. She empowers them to tell their stories. In the words of Dale Carnegie: “To be interesting, be interested.” So let’s do it together.

At our next Brews & News networking event, please join CPRS Manitoba for a discussion about professional development! We want to hear from you, as members, peers, and students, in our efforts to #elevatePR in Manitoba. What does the future hold for Canada’s public relations professionals? What new challenges are you grappling with in your work? Join our national conversation on the future of PR.

Hope to see you there!

Event Details:

October 12, 2017

5:30 – 7:00pm

Forth Cocktail Bar

171 McDermott Avenue

Admission: Free*

* Note that attendees will be responsible for their own food & beverage costs.